Anonymous AL exec on Mets signing Tim Tebow: ‘It’s a joke’

The New York Mets were the major league team who ultimately decided to take a flier on Tim Tebow, signing the former football player to a minor league contract. While opinions differ greatly on Tebow’s fledgling baseball career, one anonymous executive from an American League team mocked the Mets for signing Tebow.

The executive, who requested anonymity from NJ Advanced Media so he could speak freely on the subject, says Tebow has virtually no shot of cracking a big league roster, calling the possibility of it happening “pretty far-fetched.”

“Oh, God,” the exec said “It’s a joke to me. I don’t what the Mets’ intentions are. He’s 29 and he hasn’t played baseball in 11 years!

“I don’t want Tebow taking the place of a kid who has been playing baseball his whole life, and he’s going to be taking someone’s place.”

Tebow is slated to begin his baseball career by participating in the Mets’ Instructional League later this month. Reports indicate Tebow will only spend a few days doing so, presumably due to the revelation that Tebow plans to continue his work with the SEC Network and ESPN.

The executive speculated the Mets’ motivation to signing Tebow may have more to do with him providing a positive influence on younger players.

“This one almost looks a little like you want him in your camp to rub off on kids because of his makeup and everything, but if he’s not full-blown committed and he’s going to be covering football (as an SEC analyst) and all that stuff …” the executive said.

The exec noted that the assessments of how Tebow performed during his pro tryout varied widely among scouts. But when it comes right down to it, the executive had a pretty underwhelming prediction about Tebow’s pro baseball prospects.

“I don’t think it’ll last a year, but we’ll see,” he said.

In the end, Tebow’s foray into professional baseball in all likelihood will end up being much ado about nothing and will be regraded as nothing more than a sideshow spawned by Tebow’s celebrity. At least that’s how one AL executive clearly views it.